BREMERTON – When Solenne Santiago set out to make a film about the eucharistic miracle of Bolsena-Orvieto, the teenager had never attempted a video project so ambitious or meaningful.
Sure, for years she had run a YouTube channel about her love for pet turtles. And she had helped her parish, Our Lady Star of the Sea in Bremerton, with videos and streaming for its online school auction. But this was narrative storytelling, requiring quality actors, convincing filming sites, complicated logistics during the COVID-19 pandemic and more.
“I just trusted God, and thought, ‘This is not just my project, this is your project. And you’re going to guide it,’” said Solenne, an 18-year-old high school junior.
The result is Faith Prevails: The Miracle of Bolsena, an impressive cinematic telling of the eucharistic miracle of Bolsena-Orvieto.
The film recounts the story of Father Peter of Prague, a doubter of Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist. While on a pilgrimage through Italy in 1263, he was asked to celebrate a Mass at the Church of St. Christina in Bolsena. During that Mass, the consecrated host began to bleed. Evidence of that miracle, including the blood-stained stone slab from the church, remain today.
It is believed that the miracle, in conjunction with the pleading of St. Juliana of Liège, who had long advocated for a springtime liturgical feast in adoration of the Eucharist, caused Pope Urban IV to institute the feast of Corpus Christi just one year later.
Solenne’s film premiered June 3 (the traditional date of Corpus Christi) at Our Lady Star of the Sea, and is being officially launched to the public on Sunday, June 6, when the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is celebrated in the U.S.
“I was not expecting the kind of product she turned out,” said Father Derek Lappe, pastor of Our Lady Star of the Sea, who appears in a scene in the film. “We’re very proud of her.”
Pastor’s play has profound effect
Solenne’s love of the story of Father Peter at Bolsena-Orvieto began a decade ago, when, at 8 years old, she was given a role in a five-scene play telling the story of the miracle that used to be put on annually at Star of the Sea.
Father Lappe authored the drama, which he describes as “a little play I wrote.”
Solenne remembers being struck while on stage her first time.
“One of the parishioners made a special-effects host,” she said. “He would lift up the host and blood would just start seeping out of the top of it.”
Solenne knew it was a prop. Nevertheless, it had a profound effect on her.
“Seeing it was just kind of like ‘Wow,’” she recalled. “It further cemented for me that this is real. This is something that happened. I’ve always carried that with me, that love of the Eucharist.”
Solenne adapted Father Lappe’s 15-minute play into a 21-scene, 40-minute film that she hopes will be seen by many Catholics and perhaps nonbelievers.
The project was conceived, “praying how to use my particular set of talents,” as a way for Solenne to obtain the pinnacle Stars & Stripes Award from the American Heritage Girls program, a faith-based, scout-type character development program founded in 1995. Solenne’s family was among the founding families of the American Heritage Girls troop at Star of the Sea.
A minimum of 100 volunteer hours is needed to obtain the Stars & Stripes Award.
“We definitely blew through that,” said Solenne, who tracked just over 1,864 volunteer hours, about 500 of them hers alone as writer, director, producer and editor. The project — which included Solenne’s family, friends and American Heritage Girls troop — took about 10 months to complete, with video shot over 10 days.
Signs of God’s guidance
In addition to sites on the Olympic Peninsula, scenes in the movie were filmed in Seattle at Blessed Sacrament Church in the University District and St. Anne Church on Queen Anne hill, and St. Joseph Church in Tacoma.
Father Peter is played by Deacon Kyle Poje, who will be ordained to the priesthood June 26 at St. James Cathedral. His casting is just one of the many aspects of making the film that Solenne believes to be due to divine inspiration.
“It was quite difficult to find people who were comfortable acting for the camera,” she said, recalling being daunted by “finding a man who was mature enough and willing to take on such a big role.”
Deacon Poje auditioned after hearing about the project from a mutual friend. After filming, he continued his seminary studies in Italy, where he was able to film exterior shots of many of the churches that played a role in the miracle. Those images became significant establishing shots featured in the film.
Here’s another example of God guiding the project: It initially had no soundtrack.
“Music definitely enhances the experience [of a film],” Solenne said. “It didn’t feel complete until the soundtrack was added.”
How music was added could be considered a minor miracle. Solenne’s sister, attending college at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, was asked to sing for the confirmation Mass at a local parish she’d never been to. While there, she heard the pianist off-handedly mention that he was a film composer.
“My sister is looking for one of those,” she thought.
The pianist, Ian Mann, agreed to score the film. Solenne can only describe that serendipity as “totally a God thing, just by chance.”
Solenne says archdioceses in Oregon and Kansas already plan to share the film, and that she is eager to make it available to anyone interested.
“I want as many people to experience it as possible,” she said. “My ultimate goal is to inspire a deeper appreciation, understanding and devotion to the Eucharist.”
Learn more
Read about the eucharistic miracle of Bolsena-Orvieto and submit a request to host a showing of Faith Prevails: The Miracle of Bolsena at faithprevailsmovie.com. Stream the film in its entirety on YouTube.